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What is Nature?

Nature, from the Latin, “nāscī”, meaning “I grow, I arise, I am born.”

Nāscī is a “present infinitive”, or “non-finite verb”, which the wiki goes on to speak of in the following terms:

“Nonfinite verbs typically are not inflected by grammatical tense; and they present little inflection for other grammatical categories as well. Generally, they also lack a subject dependent.”

How curious that our word for an infinite present without a dependent subject is a present infinitive with no subject dependent, and that we have called this a “nonfinite verb”, which when one examines it really means a never ending process.

We may infer from this, if somewhat cheekily, that whatsoever grows, arises, and is born exists in an infinite present moment, and that there is no subject or “I” necessary for this state of affairs to exist.

Hm, I guess thats a personal assumption. As a kid I always thought that the idea that the universe was the only thing that existed to be questionable. I always entertained the thought that this world is being kept together by something, other than our consciousness though.

I recently watched a video on YouTube posted by National Geographic about how the earth was born and nature as we know it came into being. It’s a brilliant video. One part of the video shows how the earth, the moon and the other planets were adjusting their distances and trajectories so as to make it perfect for earth to have all the qualites necessary for life to sustain. Watching that video made me realize that there definitely is an external force that controls these aspects. If not how would the planets and stars know to adjust itself? What that external force is, I’m afraid I don’t have am answer to that. But I strongly believe there is something!
Don’t know why but this is what came to my mind when I read your post 🙂

One can believe in anything. Even things that do not logically connect to each other. And this doesn’t necessarily mean this belief is wrong. Just not compatible with contemporary awareness. There is the universe of the real and the universe of the imagination. No one can say for sure which is the more influential to our decision making. Or our belief systems.I personally believe there is some external force. 🙂

That was a beautiful inference, Aishwariya. The wit with which you played with words and showcased the idea of infinite existence in one form or another is intelligent, comforting and just what I sometimes need 🙂 This made my day 🙂

Wow Prateek. I am glad you liked it! I always liked the definition of nature being “That which arises from itself”. Because that is exactly what nature is, something that springs forth from itself. And being a non-finite verb, one could take it to mean, “That which is always arising from itself”.
Which is the best description of existence I think I’ve ever seen.
Also, I can relate humans to a bunch of cellular organisms in earth’s biosphere. Why humans choose to separate themselves from nature, I’ve never quite understood. If you were to break your self down as far as you could, into subatomic structures, you’d find that you’re no different than anything around you. Yet we want to feel like we have a purpose, we’re a special occurrence, and everything else on this planet is just subconscious stupidity… Sigh.
Are you a mind with a body? Or are you an organic body that happens to have a brain which allows it to perceive?

Very well said, Aishwariya. The way we have self-proclaimed ourselves as a species that tries to overcome nature rather than being a part of it, is not only stupid but extremely dangerous too.
I feel we very comfortably forget the truth called death. The dissolution of all the beauty and intelligence into minerals for soil and trees is probably all what we are here for.
Your thoughts makes me believe in perfection:)

Wow Prateek. I am glad you liked it! I always liked the definition of nature being “That which arises from itself”. Because that is exactly what nature is, something that springs forth from itself. And being a non-finite verb, one could take it to mean, “That which is always arising from itself”.
Which is the best description of existence I think I’ve ever seen.
Also, I can relate humans to a bunch of cellular organisms in earth’s biosphere. Why humans choose to separate themselves from nature, I’ve never quite understood. If you were to break your self down as far as you could, into subatomic structures, you’d find that you’re no different than anything around you. Yet we want to feel like we have a purpose, we’re a special occurrence, and everything else on this planet is just subconscious stupidity… Sigh.
Are you a mind with a body? Or are you an organic body that happens to have a brain which allows it to perceive?

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Aishwariya Ramachandran

Sometimes things seem bigger than they are from the outside, but Aishwariya Ramachandran B.SC APPLIED INFORMATICS is really still a teeny tiny front-end developer. Keep reading for a little bit about the people behind the code. I'm a developer, which means that I code – I don’t do any design in-house.
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